The 5 Keys to Truly Effective Web Design

Just having a beautiful site is never enough: great web design involves more than aesthetics alone

So you've constructed a beautiful looking website yet you're not getting the amount of traffic you'd anticipated and hoped for. Why not?

Many business owners mistakenly assume that once they're on the web, customers will automatically start pouring in: so it's a big shock when that doesn't happen. Great web design that truly works for you involves so much more than having pretty pictures, the right colors, and fancy features. At Prox MX, our experts know how to construct a website that is not only aesthetically pleasing, but that is also logically structured, user-friendly, and more likely to get noticed by major search engines. Here are 5 of the keys to truly effective web design.

Key #1: Make it Easy to Load

Studies show that a website only has about 9 seconds to make a great first impression. Although it may be tempting to include a lot of Flash graphics in your design, using such measures means that visitors will have to "wait" till your site loads in order to view its content. Web users are a notoriously impatient bunch (especially with the advent of high-speed internet) and they don't like to wait. If your site takes too long to load, any potential visitor is likely to go elsewhere.

Key #2: Make it User-Friendly and Easy to Navigate

The internet has been around long enough that users have certain expectations when they visit websites. They are used to seeing a menu of link options across the top of the page, for example, and they will automatically search for features they are familiar with and are looking for. If your web design does not follow these common conventions, your visitors will quickly become frustrated and will be turned off.

Key #3: Keep Your Written Content Readable and Relevant

Users come to a website to obtain information and to obtain it fast. If your home page contains a wall of text, it's almost guaranteed that visitors will not take the time to read it, nor will they care to click on links to any of your other pages. They came to get info, not to read The Great American Novel. Give them what they came for in short, easy-to-read and "scan-able" chunks. The best web copy uses everyday language (yes, even for technical sites) and is concise and to the point.

Key #4: Make the Architecture of Your Site SEO-Friendly

No matter how beautiful your site looks, it will not get the number of hits it should from search engines unless it is structurally optimized to do so. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) involves a series of techniques that are specifically designed to help your site rank higher on search engine result pages. Here are just a few of the basics:

• Do not use frames as part of your web design strategy
• Research keywords carefully and use them in your URL, headings, all tags (including metatags), document text, anchor tags, etc.
• Use drop-down navigation written in CSS code and avoid the use of JavaScript and Flash.

There are many more SEO-minded architectural strategies that will increase your traffic considerably, and Prox MX web design professionals know them all. They will be happy to review the structure of your existing site or help you create one that is truly SEO-friendly. We are an SEO firm that knows how to do it right.

Key #5: It Must Deliver Your Brand and Marketing Message and Include Calls to Action

The content included in your web design must be geared toward closing the sale. No matter how many potential customers come through your cyber front door, your site is not effective unless those casual visitors are converted into paying customers. Your marketing message must be made clear, and every page of your site must include some kind of "call to action (CTA)" to get customers to act. A CTA might be a special offer, a discount for web visitors, or easy-to-find contact information.

The web design experts at Prox MX use every tool in their arsenal to help you get not only a beautiful-looking website, but one that includes each of the 5 Keys and many more besides. Call us today and see how we can help you get a visible and lucrative web presence.